The last week has been pretty incredible for the Maui Brewing Company. The U.S. Small Business Administration named co-founders Garrett Marrero and Melanie Oxley the National Small Business Persons of the Year. Online media brand Thillist named Maui Brewing Company the best craft brewery in the state. Two of its brews were recognized in the Los Angeles International Beer Competition and four of its brews got medals at the San Diego International Beer Festival. The recent accolades feel great, according to co-founder Garrett Marrero, 38. But what people don’t understand, he says, is how much work went into achieving that success. “I have had the comment, ‘Oh, it must be nice,’ sometimes. And I hear that, from someone and I am like, ‘You know what, yeah, it is nice. We have a nice home, it’s great to run a company like we do and to work with the people we do but the sacrifice that we put in? It meant no vacation, it meant being broke,” says Marrero. “If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. And it’s much easier to be on the other side of the fence pointing back at a successful business saying, ‘Oh yeah, that would have been so nice, I wish I would have done something like that.'” Morrero was working in San Francisco in finance when he decided to move to Hawaii in 2004 with his at the time girlfriend and now wife and business partner. In 2005, he started the company as a small brew-pub in 2005. A few years later, the company expanded into retail sales. By 2013, the Maui Brewing Company hit $10 million in sales. In 2016, it did between $12 and $16 million in revenue (Marrero declined to be more specific) and this year, it expects to do $20 million in sales. Currently, it has almost 400 employees. By the end of 2018 or early 2019, it plans to have opened additional restaurants and be employing 700 people.Maui Brewing Company’s success was buoyed by the rise in popularity of craft beer in the time since it opened, says Marrero. In 2005, there were 991 brew-pubs, 354 microbreweries, and 49 regional breweries, according to the Brewers Association, an industry organization. In 2016, there were 1,916 brew-pubs, 3,132 microbreweries and 49 regional breweries. The company isn’t successful just because of the owner’s commitment, its success is because of the commitment from every single employee. When the company sold off its old production space to two couples wanting to launch a start-up craft brewery, Marrero said “”I was very clear, I said, ‘This is going to be the hardest work you have ever done,'” he says.” ‘You are going to cry, you are going to bleed, you are certainly going to sweat here. Just be prepared, this is not going to be easy. You look at what we have today, that’s not the way it was five, six, seven, 10 years ago. If you are not ready to give it 110 percent every day, day in, day out, then running a business isn’t for you.'” In addition to putting commitment into your business, you also to have goals, and believe you will accomplish them. “If you don’t set out with the vision of being successful, you are going to fail,” says Marrero. “We were not willing to quit. The vision had to be focused like a laser in order to really get to where we are.”. Where there is no vision you will perish. Your vision and mission will drive you. If you wrap your vision and mission around the lens of eternity and legacy you will have a foundation that will give you the energy to keep moving forward even if it’s slowly.

Some people may envision the legalization of marijuana as an opportunity for someone like Philip Morris to start selling marijuana cigarettes. It’s much closer to the truth to say that marijuana is showing potential for medical uses, and companies that are developing medical applications for the plant stand to gain in the marketplace.The rush to get in on the marijuana craze has created hundreds of startups. The odds are that many of these will fail. The winners so far are established companies that are adding marijuana to their focus. Even the winners have seen drops in price lately.We have selected four marijuana stocks that have the potential to make significant gains. These stocks were chosen based on their array of marijuana-related products. These products are either in use or awaiting FDA approval.All figures are current as of June 12, 2017. The four stocks to watch are: ABBV, SMG, CRBP, and INSY. AbbVie Inc is a pharmaceutical company that currently has a cannabis based drug on the market. The FDA approved Marinol, which helps alleviate nausea or vomiting for chemotherapy patients. The drug also helps AIDS patients who have lost their desire to eat. This product is not the main product for the company. ABBV has reported increasing revenues in the past four years. In addition, its operating income has been increasing steadily. The company is benefiting from a host of useful drugs, including Marinol. This is a way to play the marijuana trend without incurring 100% exposure to the plant. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company which is known for its lawn and garden-care lines, the company is developing products for cannabis growers and also several pesticides for use on marijuana plants. The author recommends watching this stock rather than buying. Corbus Pharmaceuticals is a stock that has been volatile over the past few years. Resunab, which is designed to treat sclerosis, has had promising trials. The stock has tended to dip just before trial results are announced, then rally when the results are positive. Now Corbus is testing Resunab as a treatment for cystic fibrosis. The pessimism/optimism pattern will continue to play out as this drug is tested yet again. The company has negative operating income, and revenues are close to zero. Corbus is a company depending on the success of a single drug that could make or break it. In my opinion, this stock is a high-risk stock, and if you invest in this stock have a short-term strategy to invest for the capital gains. Insys Therapeutics, Inc. is in the process of developing a synthetic cannabis drug to treat childhood epilepsy. This company markets many non-canabis drugs. The company is also developing a spray technology to deliver the pharmaceutical based canaboids. Biotech stocks will normally exhibit volatility. It is best not to invest based on enthusiasm over marijuana, and keep a level head about actual results from drug trials. The pesticides angle is interesting, but such a product would have limited sales until marijuana is legalized nationwide. Know your asset class and focus your asset acquiring strategy to build your investment portfolio.